A Prince George business owner now has reason to believe an independent marketing company will provide a refund after allegedly signing his company up to a third-party natural gas contract.
Dave Fuller, who operates Ave Marie Gifts & Health Foods and Mother Maria's Market said he's spoken to the company, Active Renewable Marketing Ltd., this week and was told his complaint will have to go through the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC).
"But they're [Active Renewable] not going to dispute it and that we should have full payment of our account between one month and three months," Fuller said.
But Fuller said he'll continue to press police to pursue a fraud charge after the sales agent allegedly forged a signature on the contract.
"We want full justice," Fuller said.
Fuller has said he only recently noticed a line item on the business's natural gas bill for an agreement to buy natural gas through Active Renewable until the end of this year. When he obtained a copy of the contract, he found what appeared to be a forged signature next to the name of an employee who was not authorized to sign such agreements.
The employee has since filed an affidavit - signed with a markedly different signature - stating she neither signed the contract nor printed her name on the bottom line.
Since it came into effect in December 2008, Fuller estimates the contract has cost $1,000 to $2,000 in extra billing.
Fuller said he'll also ask the BCUC to order Active Renewable to fully review their files for the agent responsible for the contract and to contact other customers who may have signed similar contracts.
Active Renewable spokesperson Charlie Zylvitis said Fuller's complaint to the BCUC has been received "and hopefully find a way to reconcile it to their satisfaction."
He said the BCUC will consider the length of time the customer has been honouring the contract and whether the person who signed the contract was authorized to do so.
"If it comes out that it's a strong case for forgery - an affidavit's no joke - we'll have to take a look at that and go from there," Zylvitis said.
The salesperson, M. Aslam, no longer works for Active Renewable, Zylvitis said.
B.C. Better Business Bureau (BBB) reports three complaints against Active Renewable Marketing Ltd.
Two of the complaints came from 2009 regarding sales issues and one from 2011 regarding problems with the company's service.
Zylvitis said such complaints are taken seriously and noted the BBB did say complaints have declined since the market deregulated in 2007.
